That Silly, Spooky Time of Year
Although he likes presents more than he likes candy (my son announced today that presents last longer), I think my son's favorite holiday is NOT Christmas, but Halloween. He loves all things spooky. (NOT scary, but spooky. The difference might be hard to discern, but Scooby Doo is spooky; Halloween is scary.) He adores ghosts and ghouls and pumpkins that can be carved into jack-o-lanterns. For him it is a time of year that transitions from the beginning of a new school year to the "season" of holidays. (According to him, Halloween ushers in the Holiday Season for after Halloween comes Thanksgiving and then Christmas...after that there isn't much else; at least as far as he can see.)
There are rules according to my son, as to how we can decorate and when. For example, did you know that you CAN"T decorate for Halloween INSIDE or OUTSIDE until the official first day of autumn. Once you've past that day (this year it was September 22nd), you are allowed to decorate, but INSIDE the house only. You are only allowed to decorate outside the house with Halloween decorations (autumnal decorations such as mums, pumpkins, corn stalks, etc are allowed outside but they cannot reflect anything that might infer Halloween) on or after the last day of the month before Halloween (meaning: September 30th). At this point you can go whole hog and start the joy of putting up the 20 foot inflatable scary looking cat and the orange lights that glow from the front yard bushes. It is also recommended that you balance your front yard so that each side is different, but equal in the way of decorations. Remember, decorations should be spooky, not scary. And if scary decorations are used there should not be too many of them, nor should they be too scary.
Yes, these are the "rules" according to my son. And in accord with this, I began decorating the inside of the house on the first day of fall. But then, we "broke" the rules over the weekend.
They may be my son's rules, but even he couldn't adhere to them as the holiday got closer and the decorations came out in force in the stores. It didn't help that our beloved neighbor started putting out his myraid of decorations on his front lawn even before the first leaf fell off the tree. In his defense, he is a firefighter and constantly on call. He also happens to love Halloween! (He's an even bigger fan of the holiday than my son. As a matter of fact, when it comes to Halloween he is the world's biggest kid and his yard and house proves it. He goes all out. And I have to say, we love him and his family for it!). As my son saw all those decorations, he could take it no more. Hence, this weekend, the holiday decorations started to come out from our basement and started to appear on our front lawn.
As of the evening of September 29th, the skulls started to glow as the sun went down. The giant eyeballs peered out from our bushes. The ghouls floated in the tree and lined our front walk way. In my son's words, we are "a Halloween wonderland." A little scary, a little spooky, but just right for us.
There are rules according to my son, as to how we can decorate and when. For example, did you know that you CAN"T decorate for Halloween INSIDE or OUTSIDE until the official first day of autumn. Once you've past that day (this year it was September 22nd), you are allowed to decorate, but INSIDE the house only. You are only allowed to decorate outside the house with Halloween decorations (autumnal decorations such as mums, pumpkins, corn stalks, etc are allowed outside but they cannot reflect anything that might infer Halloween) on or after the last day of the month before Halloween (meaning: September 30th). At this point you can go whole hog and start the joy of putting up the 20 foot inflatable scary looking cat and the orange lights that glow from the front yard bushes. It is also recommended that you balance your front yard so that each side is different, but equal in the way of decorations. Remember, decorations should be spooky, not scary. And if scary decorations are used there should not be too many of them, nor should they be too scary.
Yes, these are the "rules" according to my son. And in accord with this, I began decorating the inside of the house on the first day of fall. But then, we "broke" the rules over the weekend.
They may be my son's rules, but even he couldn't adhere to them as the holiday got closer and the decorations came out in force in the stores. It didn't help that our beloved neighbor started putting out his myraid of decorations on his front lawn even before the first leaf fell off the tree. In his defense, he is a firefighter and constantly on call. He also happens to love Halloween! (He's an even bigger fan of the holiday than my son. As a matter of fact, when it comes to Halloween he is the world's biggest kid and his yard and house proves it. He goes all out. And I have to say, we love him and his family for it!). As my son saw all those decorations, he could take it no more. Hence, this weekend, the holiday decorations started to come out from our basement and started to appear on our front lawn.
As of the evening of September 29th, the skulls started to glow as the sun went down. The giant eyeballs peered out from our bushes. The ghouls floated in the tree and lined our front walk way. In my son's words, we are "a Halloween wonderland." A little scary, a little spooky, but just right for us.
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